MONTVERDE, Fla. (June 22, 2017) — In yet another heart wrenching match for Tampa Bay, the U23’s drop their match on the road against SIMA Aguilas 2-1.
SIMA got on the board early with a 7th minute strike by Edward Kizza which quickly flipped the momentum in favor of the home squad.
From there, Aguilas began to slow the game down and focus heavily on dominating posession and the game’s pace of play.
That domination was broken, however, in the 25th minute after Kevin Varela finished with a 2nd chance strike off a Gonzalo Rodriguez feed to knot the game at a goal apiece.
From there, possession and the flow of play consistently went back and forth between the two sides as they look to take the lead before the halftime whistle. Despite a few chances for both sides, no scoring strike occurred and the teams headed into the break level.
Second half action resumed and it was clear that the Rowdies had much more energy and focus coming out of the stoppage.
Starting around the 57th minute, the Rowdies began to pepper the SIMA defense and keeper with a bevy of chances on net and in the box.
Noah Franke, Kevin Varela, and Kendan Anderson all had a few chances each in the second half to take the lead but, by one way or another, the SIMA defense held and even was able to stymie a few 1 on 1 opportunities.
Fatigue began to wear down the Rowdies players including Kevin Varela and Gonzalo Rodriguez as they began to pull up, to the chagrin of the SIMA bench, and were subbed out in the final few minutes of play.
These substitutions quite possibly had a fatal effect on the U23’s as not long after Rodriguez left play, SIMA scored the final, decisive goal off a cross into the middle of the box.
SIMA began to stall play, through a variety of questionably legal methods, and the final whistle blew crushing the hopes of Tampa Bay.
The loss marks the third time this season that the U23’s have lost a match in stoppage time and ends what could’ve been a solid three game points streak.
Tampa Bay now looks forward to their game Tuesday at home against 2nd place FC Miami City with kickoff at 7:30pm at the Waters Avenue Complex.
Scoring Summary
SIMA: Edward Kizza – 7th Minute
Rowdies: Kevin Varela – 25th Minute (Assisted by Gonzalo Rodriguez)
SIMA: Santiago Patino – 90th+ Minute
Caution Summary
Rowdies: Gustavo Fernandes – 28th Minute
SIMA: David Graydon – 39th Minute
Rowdies: Preston Kilwien – 58th Minute
SIMA: Rafael Santos – 81st Minute
Starting Lineups
Rowdies U23 XI (4-4-2): GK Sean Caufield; D Preston Kilwien, Gabriel Pfeffer, Gustavo Fernandes, Morgan Hackworth; M Ivan Castro (Noah Franke 46′), Gonzalo Rodriguez (Jordan Day 90′), Gabriel Fernandes (Pico Espinal 79′), Mac Curran (Kendan Anderson 46′); F Tosan Popo, Kevin Varela (Daniel Ribas 89′)
SIMA Aguilas XI (4-3-3): GK Federico Barrios; D Esteban Calvo, Zack Waidman (Trey Langlois 90′), Justin Malou, Mauriq Hill; M David Graydon (Leo Novaes 50′), Bruno Lupa (John Dennis 68′), Malick Mbaye; F Rafael Santos (Yaya Cisse 90′), Diego Campos, Edward Kizza (Santiago Patino 70′)
